Meadow Park Initiative unveils park improvements

(ABC 6 News) – Meadow Park neighbors and community partners gathered to celebrate the improvements made to Friendship Park in Rochester Saturday afternoon.

The AARP Community Challenge grant supports the multigenerational improvements to the park.

This is the fourth year of these improvements. This year’s initiative milestone celebration featured the installation of a multilingual information kiosk with bench seating and the planting of trees.

"She said it helped her a lot because she has little kids and raising them was a lot to her, living in a small apartment. So, having this park and taking them out and having fun with them and making memories was the best thing she’s ever done in her life," Rahma Mohamed said about her mother. They have resided in Meadow Park for six years now.

These improvements to Friendship Park support social connections among the neighborhood’s children, youth and elders. The neighbors are very thankful for this.

<"This is such a heartwarming experience to see what you’ve built with your own hands in your community to see people out here celebrating it. What these grant projects are designed just for this purpose so that the people who live here can determine what it is that is going to create a better place for people to live, and work and raise their families," Jay Haapala, Associate State Director of Community Engagement for AARP Minnesota, said.

The AARP Community Challenge is a grant program to make tangible improvements to communities that jump-start long-term change.